ÿþýüûúùø÷öõÿþýüû ISSUE NUMBER1 : FEBRUARY 2002
greatest flax-spinning town in the world. After 1830 jute became more important. Jute is one of the world’s major textile fibres, second only to cotton.
Introduction “The world’s greatest jute works” is the description given to the former Camperdown Works, Lochee, by Mark Watson in his book “Jute and Flax Mills in Dundee” (Hutton Press Ltd). Although no longer a jute works and substantially redeveloped it is still an imposing complex and is significant in the renewal of Dundee. To make the study of the new development more interesting it is useful to briefly look at the history of the factory complex, then the background of regeneration in the inner city of Dundee to which Camperdown Works contributes, then to the progress of the new development.
The city monopolised the trade from 1830-1850 and it was not until the 1880s that serious foreign competition was encountered from the countries growing the plant, mainly India and Pakistan. In Dundee in 1911 there were still 41,000 people, almost 50% of the working population, engaged in textile manufacture. A brief description of the technicalities of flax and jute spinning may be of interest. Jute, flax and hemp are fibres obtained from the stems of plants. They are strong but elastic and in their raw state are like long woody ribbons. Considerable effort is needed to prepare the fibres for spinning. They have to be softened, spread, carded to align the fibres and then spun. This all required a varied range of buildings and Dundee developed some of the greatest textile complexes in Britain.
Camperdown Works circa 1900.
While the materials they worked were cheap and coarse the mills were often magnificent and many are amongst the finest examples of industrial architecture in Britain, with pride of place going to the massive Camperdown Works. There were many technical and social innovations. The use of cast iron in decorative forms is superb. The buildings ancillary to the main mills such as boilerhouses and offices are often spectacular. Remnants of these are preserved at Camperdown Works and there is, of course, Cox’s stack, Dundee’s great landmark, the finest chimney in Scotland and arguably the best in the UK.
Historical and Technical Background Last century Dundee flourished as a textile manufacturing centre. As with many industries in the 18th and 19th centuries, being beside a river or stream was important, in the first instance for water power and then through the need to make steam, and also because a lot of water was used in the manufacture of jute. In Dundee, by looking at old maps and noting where the factories were you can trace where the original streams were. These are no longer visible but are under the streets in big pipes or culverts. Dundee has a long association with the textile industry. Prior to 1830 it was the
Social developments such as part-time schools, workers’ housing and the provision of city parks by the “Jute Barons” were important steps in the social reform of the times. In Lochee the 1